Canning

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Two weekends ago, I went on my first canning trip with my THON Committee. I had heard a lot about what canning would be like: how much closer you get with the people you go with, how cold it can be, and most of all, how good it makes you feel to spend an entire weekend doing something that will ultimately benefit others.

People would come back from canning weekends and rave about how that weekend restored their faith in humanity, and how nice and willing to help everyone was. So I knew a little about what it would be like. But I didn’t really.

The people I talked to while I was out there on the street corner decked out in Penn State and THON gear inspired me to be a better person. I had always seen canners around my hometown, and always donated, but the generosity some of these people showed took me by surprise.

While I had heard about some canning horror stories, where they didn’t get any money and the people were rude and standoff-ish, I didn’t experience any of that. People would donate no matter what car they were driving, or how many kids they had. And even if they couldn’t donate, they would smile and wave and thank us for what we were doing.

I don’t know what it is. Maybe it was the name that they associated with what we were doing, or their sense of civic engagement coming out. Or maybe we were just especially approachable. Whatever it was, the kindness people showed, I will never forget.

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